India among four countries with highest number of cities at risk from extreme heat: Study

India is among four countries with the largest number of cities at risk from extreme heat, according to a new global study that warns that rising temperatures, combined with socio-economic vulnerabilities and inadequate coping capacity, are putting millions of urban residents at increasing risk.

The study, published in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society, assessed 205 cities worldwide with populations of more than one million and found that India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana together account for the largest concentration of cities facing extreme heat risk.

More than 95 per cent of the world's most at-risk cities are located in South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, underscoring the disproportionate burden of climate change on developing regions.

Among Indian cities, Ahmedabad ranked as the world's second most at-risk city after Iraq's Al Basrah. Fourteen Indian cities featured in the global top 50, including Jaipur, Nagpur, Pune, Chennai, Madurai, Bengaluru, Kanpur and Lucknow.

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The researchers stressed that heat risk extends beyond high temperatures alone and is shaped by factors such as population vulnerability, economic conditions, access to cooling infrastructure and urban green cover.

"It isn't just exposure to hot temperatures that matters for risk. Our study highlights the importance of multi-faceted global heat risk assessments, which reveal the diverse pathways through which urban heat risk emerges," said lead author Nethmi Jayaratne Kariyawasam of the University of Oxford.

She added that many cities across Asia and Africa face a dangerous combination of extreme heat, vulnerable populations and limited capacity to cope, significantly increasing the likelihood of heat-related illnesses and deaths.

The study found that cities with robust infrastructure and stronger adaptive capacity, such as Bangkok and Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, ranked lower despite experiencing high temperatures. Conversely, cities with moderate heat exposure but weaker infrastructure and socio-economic constraints including Karachi, Faisalabad and Kaduna, recorded higher overall risk.

Co-author Radhika Khosla, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, cautioned against excessive dependence on air conditioning, saying it could worsen global warming if adopted as the primary adaptation strategy.

Instead, she advocated scaling up passive cooling measures and low-energy technologies such as fans and coolers to improve thermal comfort while limiting emissions.

The researchers said their framework provides governments with a scalable tool to compare urban heat risks and design targeted adaptation strategies as climate change accelerates.

With inputs from agencies